While their classmates are throwing back shots of tequila over spring break next week, eight Quakers will be taking their shot at college fencing's highest honor at the NCAA Championships in Columbus, Ohio, from March 13-16. But according to coach Dave Micahnik, Penn's biggest challenge won't take place on the piste.

Priscilla des Gachons is a College sophomore from Paris, France. Her e-mail address is pgachons@dailypennsylvanian.com.

Talk about learning quickly: The softball team will play more games this spring break than it has year. Penn (2-2 ) will travel to Orlando, Fla., to take part in the Rebel Spring Games. They will play 10 contests over six days, with just one day off. Their opponents include seven different teams from all over the country: Cleveland State, Butler, Tenesee-Martin, Indiana-Purdue, Robert Morris, Monmouth and Wisconsin-Green Bay.

He might be moving on to Division-I football, but quarterback John Hurley may have already seen more time in the limelight than he will in his four years of college. Hurley, a marquee member of Penn football's Class of 2012, was the signal-caller for St. Xavier of Cincinnati, which finished 2007 ranked No.

Contrary to most predictions at the beginning of this year's presidential primaries, Pennsylvania now matters - in fact, it could effectively determine the outcome of the Democratic race for President. Political analysts initially predicted that the Democratic primaries would be decided on Super Tuesday, Feb.

Does the FDA's policy of banning males who have sex with men (MSM) from donating blood violate Penn's non-discrimination policy? Absolutely, but so do comedy troupes that don't allow women and a capella groups that exclude men. The University also sanctions registered parties where only people past a certain age can drink (blatant ageism) - unless one of their friends is conniving enough to figure out how to remove a bracelet.

With the completion of Cira Centre South still a number of years away, for now, progress is being marked by subtraction. Before construction can begin, the Post Office Truck Terminal Annex building that currently stands on the site along 30th Street between Chestnut and Walnut streets must first be demolished.

The national flag of Ghana may be red, yellow and green, but students and faculty at Penn Engineering are working to give the African nation a healthy dose of the red and the blue. Through a partnership with the nation's main science and technology university and a variety of service projects and programs, SEAS has made Ghana a primary focus of its global outreach efforts - efforts they hope will provide benefits to both Penn and the African nation.

Jennifer Lesser is a College sophomore from Minneapolis, MN. Her e-mail address is lesser@dailypennsylvanian.com.

E-mail has been widely accepted as a form of communication in many industries, but some worry that the medium is not suitable for the health-care field. A recent study by Australian doctors found that patients there were much more likely to communicate with surgeons about operations if the doctors provided e-mail addresses.

Like any daughter, Chelsea Clinton doesn't always agree with her mother. But none of those differences in opinion came up yesterday, when hundreds of Penn students gathered on Wynn Commons to hear the former first daughter speak about the presidential campaign of her mother, New York Sen.

A lot has changed at Penn since 1977. This May the LGBT Center will celebrate it's 25th anniversary at Penn. The University has made tremendous strides in recognizing and understanding its diverse array of students. But thanks to an outdated FDA policy, any man who has ever had sex with another man (MSM) is banned for life from donating blood on campus - or anywhere else.

Not many kids from Andre Wilkins' neighborhood make it to Ivy League schools. In fact, not many kids from the Jane/Finch area of northern Toronto - from where the Cornell guard hails - make it to college at all. The neighborhood has developed a reputation as one of the roughest in Canada and has been compared to Compton, Calif.

When he left Providence, R.I. and the Brown basketball program for the head coaching job at Penn, Glen Miller was faced with the difficult task of replacing Philadelphia icon Fran Dunphy. But in 1993, 13 years before he took over for Dunphy, Miller was replacing some of the lower-profile denizens of the athletic world.

Karin Brower is barely concerned about it. Rudy Fuller is slightly apprehensive. Al Bagnoli says it "scares" him. All three Penn coaches - Brower of women's lacrosse, Fuller of men's soccer and Bagnoli of football - said that the financial-aid reforms at Harvard, Penn, Yale, Dartmouth and Brown have turned the distribution of aid money into a front-burner issue in the Ivy League.

Each semester, approximately 600 students in Introduction to Psychology will participate in research projects, ranging from experiments about coping with stress to improving body image. The course requirement does more than help students understand how psychology is studied - it provides graduate students and professors with a convenient pool of subjects for their work.

Last night, the Penn Democrats endorsed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for president, despite debate about whether to endorse a candidate at all. The endorsement required a two-thirds majority to pass. Following the vote, College sophomore Mukul Sharma, Penn Dems vice president, said the group will do "whatever it can" for Obama and wants to host a visit for either the senator or his surrogates before the April 22 Pennsylvania primary.